


Your Very Expensive Painting.

by leithvoid



Category: British Actor RPF, Rocketman (2019), Rocketman (2019) RPF
Genre: Confessions, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, charlie is a baby okay, only a lil hurt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-06
Updated: 2019-08-06
Packaged: 2020-08-10 17:02:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,158
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20138902
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/leithvoid/pseuds/leithvoid
Summary: Charlie never would have guessed Richared liked him or how good it would feel.





	Your Very Expensive Painting.

**Author's Note:**

> No one asked for it, but idc.  
Also please dont scream at me about the scene from the movie i wrote out, I did it off the top of my head. I tried >.<

The movie was already well into the filling stage of its creation but Charlie and Richard didn’t have much screen time so they weren’t needed on set for the first few weeks. They’d agreed to go over some of their character dynamics and scenes to work up some ideas on what their characters would be like on the big screen. Richard had invited Charlie over to his apartment in London on a day they both didn’t need to be on set.

'Hey Charlie, come in,' Richard greeted the younger man. Charlie smiled and pushed his brown hair from his face.  _ Pretty eyes _ , Richard thought.

‘Thanks Richard,’ He said, walking into Richard’s apartment. It was nice, the room was very open, the kitchen wasn’t closed off from the rest of the dining and living room areas. ‘Nice place you’ve got here.’ Charlie looked around, not really sure what to do with himself. Him and Richard still hadn’t really mixed while on set, occasionally passing by each other and saying hello or sitting in on readings with the other actors, mostly Taron.

He’d admit it was a little, or a lot, intimidated being in the same room as The Richard Madden; let alone in his place. Charlie wasn’t a very big actor, he wasn’t as well known by the masses unlike Richard. When he found out he’d gotten the role as Raymond he was so pleased, such an important role to play in a big movie; the exposure would hopefully help him grow, his publicist had told him.

‘Want something to drink?’ Richard offered Charlie, knowing he might be a little on edge having noticed that he was cracking his knuckles over and over even though they weren’t cracking.

‘Yeah, water’s fine!’ Charlie smiled and followed Richard, hoping it wasn’t weird. 

‘You can sit down yknow.’ Richard chuckled.

‘Just a little overwhelming to be honest,’ Charlie said, sitting at the brown dining table, ‘I’m sure you get this all the time, people nervous to meet you because you’re a well known actor. I don’t want to be that, you have a job just like I do and I shouldn’t be so worried about spending time with you.’ He confessed, trying to explain to Richard why he was nervous.

Richard came back over with a glass of water smile on his face,  _ wow he is so gorgeous _ , ‘I get it, I have had similar experiences. Like you said we both have a job to do, and despite whatever we have done in the past shouldn’t affect how we do that job. I don’t want to make you nervous, so if you’d rather do this on set or have some of the others here - I’m happy to adjust.’ 

Charlie couldn’t help but smile from the kindness of Richard ‘I appreciate it Richard, I think I’ll be okay though. Once we get into the scenes and talking about our characters I’ll settle.’ Richard gave Charlie’s shoulder so soft reassuring pat,  _ he is so gentle _ .

Charlie flipped open his script to the first scene in which their characters interact, Richard doing the same as he sat down next to Charlie ‘Okay, I think first off we need to establish how they feel about each other before this scene,’ Richard said, Charlie nodding in response. 

‘I don’t think Ray wouldn’t have any established issues with him at the start, Elton is always with someone and there hasn’t been any reason John’s given him to question his interest.’ The first time John and Ray are in a scene together is just after Elton and John spend the night together after the first show at the Troubadour. As far as they know they didn’t have any passings at the party. 

‘That makes perfect sense, at this point, John is just a companion to Elton. He is just watching from the background so Ray wouldn’t be worried about him so much. I think John would feel the same about Ray, he didn’t think much of him being an enemy, yet,’ Richard agreed. The two characters didn’t talk until the Don’t Go Breaking My Heart scene, so they flipped too that scene.

‘It seems like Ray is pretty apprehensive towards John now, so there must have been some tension either before or he is unpleasantly surprised to have his recording session interrupted.’ Richard nodded, he leaned back in his chair, resting his arm on the back of Charlie’s chair. Charlie felt his heart rate start to rise slightly, Richard was so close to him; and he’d admit, he had a little crush on Richard.

‘I agree, John doesn’t really give much consideration to the business of making the music at this stage, he just wants to touch Elton,’ Richard said, ‘wanna run through this one?’ He asked. Charlie nodded, trying to put himself into the character of Ray, Richard doing the same.

_ John enters recording studio _

_ ‘Afternoon,’ John says.  _ _   
_ _ ‘John!’ Ray shakes John’s hand.  _ _   
_ _ ‘How you doing?’ John says, looking through the window at Elton and Kiki singing.  _ _   
_ __ Elton notices and stops singing ‘Okay, um, we’re gunna stop there guys,’ Elton says.

_ ‘Right darlin’?’ Kiki says. _

_ ‘Yeah I’m fine. Kiki would you mind giving me five minutes?’ Elton says.  _

_ ‘I’m going in there,’ John says making his way to the door.  _

_ ‘We’re running a business here,’ Ray says.  _

_ ‘No you aren’t.’ John enters the singing booth where Elton is. _

‘I think it’s pretty easy for us to get this interaction right, Ray is obviously protective over Elton and his recording with Kiki, and John dismisses him because he wants to  _ talk _ with Elton,’ Charlie said, emphasising the talk. 

‘John isn’t very subtle is he?’ Richard laughed, ‘I’m a lot better at that than he is.’ Charlie felt his cheeks get warm, looking down, flipping through the script again to their next talking scene. 

Richard followed suit, Charlie bumped his knee into Richard’s under the table, pulling away quickly at the contact. Charlie didn’t want to make Richard uncomfortable, Richard’s knee slowly found Charlie’s as they read for the next scene.

_ ‘It’s nothing personal Dick,’ Elton says to Dick as he leans on the pinball machine, sipping his drink.  _

_ ‘Come on Ray’ James says to Ray.  _

_ Ray gets up and walks over to Elton ‘Best of luck to you Elton,’ Elton looks guilty. _

Richard’s knee touches Charlie’s, Charlie leans into it.

_ Ray follows James over to John ‘You’re very expensive painting is… would look better in my bed room.’ _

Richard looked to Charlie, Charlie’s heart was racing so fast he thought he might throw up. Richard’s laugh filled the room ‘Subtle, better than John if I don’t say so myself,’ Richard hummed, wrapping his arm around Charlie’s shoulders.

‘You’re very cute, you know,’ Richard whispered into Charlie’s ear. Charlie smiled, Richard’s breath hot on his neck, he leaned into it. 

‘You’re not bad yourself,’ Charlie muttered, trying to get the words out as best he could.

Charlie fell into his crush of Richard at the table reading for the movie, he sat across from him and got to admire his every movement like it was a phenomenon. Charlie wasn’t very open about his sexuality, he’d not even experimented a lot; but he knew he liked Richard.

It was hard for Charlie to have a continuous train of thought with Richard so close to him, was Richard just complimenting him or was he seriously hitting on him? Charlie didn’t know how to read the situation, his inner self that was in love with Richard wanted it to be Richard saying  _ ‘I like you too.’ _ But the anxious side of him was worried he was just joking around.

‘Richard,’ Charlie looked into Richard’s blue eyes, almost forgetting that he was talking for a moment, ‘are you messing around with me?’ 

Richard pulled back a little from Charlie, looking at the young man. His big brown doe eyes seemed to be lost on Richard, his complexion was so warm, his face didn’t have any harsh lines but had seamless soft curves; Richard wanted to run the tips of his fingers over Charlie’s lips and trace his face until he could remember every single cell. ‘I like you Charlie,’ Richard said, not breaking his eye contact with him.

Charlie looked down for a moment, making a small whimper noise he tried to muffle by adjusting his jacket, Richard’s arm pulled him close. Charlie nessled his head into the crook of Richard’s neck and let out a few tears. He was relieved, he was happy that he wasn’t wrong. ‘You’re okay, I’ve got you,’ Richard whispered running his fingers through Charlie’s soft brown hair, trying to calm him.

Richard had a feeling Charlie had felt that way about him in the first couple meeting’s they’d been in together. Even though he wasn’t subtle he did a good job of trying to hide it, keeping his distance and not joining in conversations that Richard was in, if they stood next to each other he would keep a distance between them. Richard could feel Charlie’s want to be close to him but he never pushed it. 

This script reading was a way to see if Charlie would let himself be close to Richard, he wanted to give Charlie the opportunity without the pressure of everyone around him. Richard wasn’t going to push the other to tell him, but he wanted him to have access to a safe space where if he wanted to, if he felt comfortable enough, that he would.

‘You’re so kind.’ Charlie wiped his face with his sleeve, trying to dry it. He pulled back from Richard, the lack of contact feeling almost like he’d lost a part of his body. ‘I, I didn’t know that you felt the same...’ 

‘Course I do, you’re so gorgeous. Not just your face but your personality, you’re so warm and welcoming. There is never a moment I don’t want to just have my arms around you, I always want to be around you, I want to always have my hand in yours. I want to protect you and keep you close.’ Charlie watched Richard confess his feelings for him, his heart filling as he spoke each word.

‘I want you to do those things,’ Charlie smiled, he felt a little sheepish saying it out loud, none of this felt real. Richard pulled Charlie in again; Charlie let himself lean into Richard, wanting to melt into him.

***

Richard was sitting on the sofa watching something on TV that he seemed to be interested in, Charlie walked out of Richard’s bedroom having just showered. Charlie spent the night with Richard, just talking and confessing their love for each other. They explored each other and learnt things about one another, they let the night turn into early morning and they kissed while the birds sang in the AM.

It was perfect, Charlie was sleepy and Richard was warm, neither of them would have had it any other way. Charlie fell asleep shortly after curled up in Richard’s side, head resting on his chest. Richard had his arm wrapped around Charlie’s back as he slept, Richard slowly drifted off as he watched Charlie sleep; so close and soft. It made him feel so content, there was nothing that he’d ever done that made him feel so complete.

Charlie walked into the living room with the same sweatpants he’d worn to Richard’s the day before, but he was wearing one of Richard’s green hoodies. It was big on his smaller frame, it was like wearing a big blanket that smelled like safety. ‘You look adorable in that.’ Richard’s attention drawn from the TV when Charlie closed the bedroom door behind him. He blushed at the comment. 

‘Thanks, I think.’ He smiled, tucking his chin under the collar of the jumper and hiding his face and he walked over to the sofa. Richard’s face looked so calm, it was a face Charlie had never really seen before. ‘You okay?’ He asked, not sure what kind of emotions Richard was feeling. Charlie stood next to the sofa waiting for him to respond, maybe he was second guessing last night. Charlie tried not to think about it too much.

Richard reached his hand out to Charlie and he let him take it, Richard tugged on Charlie’s hand and he let the older man direct him. Charlie found himself sitting on Richard’s lap, his head resting on the other’s shoulder, legs propped up on the sofa on the other side of Richard. ‘I’m fine now, I just missed you,’ Richard said softly, but not quite a whisper. His kissed Charlie’s forehead and wrapped his arms around him.

He self so safe and wanted with Richard, he’d never expected it to feel like this. He was so in love with him, it hurt a little; but in a good way. Charlie drifted off into sleep again while Richard watched the TV, making small circles in Charlie’s arm.


End file.
